- 건국대학교

	Prof. Jihye Jung’s team Discovers metabolites of inositol in 'brain disease treatment'
	관리자		429		2020.04.09

<img style="margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto;" alt="" src="ArticleFile.do?id=11785304" width="554" height="366" />Prof. Jihye Jung (Department of Biological Sciences) of Konkuk University discovered a biomaterial that inhibits the secretion of neurotransmitters, such as botulinum toxin, a source of botox that inhibits nerve activity and relaxes muscles.
Professor Jihye Jung’s team and Professor Se-yun Kim's research team of KAIST have investigated the neuroactive function of inositol pyrophosphate (5-IP7). Inositol pyrophosphate is a chemical compound synthesized in the brain. It is known that inositol, which consumes fruits or grains, is formed by metabolism in the body and is involved in cell growth or metabolism.
Researchers have first demonstrated the role of inositol pyrophosphate as a modulator of neurotransmitter secretion, the core of neuronal activity through animal models. The results of this study are expected to lead to the search for candidate substances targeting inositol pyrophosphate to overcome brain disease.
The researchers analyzed the effect of absence of inositol pyrophosphate in a knock-out mouse model in which the enzyme (IP6K1), which synthesizes inositol pyrophosphate in the body, is not produced. As a result, it was found that the secretion of neurotransmitters is abnormally faster. This means that the extracellular discharge process of the endoplasmic reticulum secreted by neurotransmitters is abnormally excessive due to inositol pyrophosphate. In addition, no drug reactivity was observed even when a drug that inhibited re-infusion of vesicles secreting neurotransmitters was treated in the knockout mouse model. There is a serious impairment in the synaptic vesicle circulation pathway. Once the neurotransmitter is released, the endoplasmic reticulum undergoes a circulating process that is re-influx back into the nerve cells for continuous neurotransmitter secretion, and the researchers found that inositol pyrophosphate was involved in this re-influx process, modulating neuronal activity. 
Prof. Jeong Ji-hye, a professor at Konkuk University, said, "This study presented 'inositol pyrophosphate,' a brain chemical that works against calcium, which is well known to help release vesicles. I hope that inositol pyrophosphate is listed as a neurotransmitter modulator in a neurobiology textbook." In particular, this study is noteworthy in that it derived inositol pyrophosphate as an important factor to correct defects in synaptic vesicle circulation observed in mental disorders such as memory disorders, schizophrenia, and degenerative brain diseases such as dementia.
The results of this study, which was conducted with the support of mid-sized research support project, brain science source technology project, and leading research center project promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Research Foundation. The results of this study were published on the 23rd in 'iScience', a sister magazine of the international academic journal Cell.   <img alt="" src="ArticleFile.do?id=11785303" width="655" height="655" />　 (Figure) Schematic diagram of neurotransmitter secretion regulation by inositol pyrophosphate Figure provided by Seyun Kim, Department of Biological Sciences, KAIST

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